Sudden cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death. In the United States alone, roughly 350,000 people die each year from sudden cardiac arrest. It is the leading cause of death for individuals over 40 and the #1 killer of student athletes. The most effective treatment for sudden cardiac arrest is the use of CPR coupled with defibrillation. Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are portable devices designed to automatically check for life-threatening heart rhythms associated with sudden cardiac arrest and to send an electrical shock to the heart to try to restore a normal rhythm when shockable heart rhythms are detected. The two most common conditions treated by AEDs are Pulseless Ventricular tachycardia (aka VT or V-Tach) and Ventricular fibrillation (VF or V-Fib). AEDs are typically designed such that they can be used by a lay person in situations where professional medical personnel are not available.
Given their potential to save lives, automated external defibrillators have been deployed in a relatively wide variety of public and private locations so that they are available in the event that a person in the vicinity goes in to cardiac arrest. By way of example, AEDs may be found in corporate and government offices, shopping centers, airports, airplanes, restaurants, casinos, hotels, sports stadiums, schools, fitness centers and a variety of other locations where people may congregate. Although the availability of AEDs has increased over the years, their relatively high cost tends to limit their placement and many locations including schools, sports fields, and a plethora of other places where people congregate don't have an on-site AED available. Furthermore, although many AEDs are considered “portable”, most commercially available portable automated external defibrillators are bulky and heavy enough that they are rarely carried by people other than trained medical personnel. Thus there are many times, locations and events where no AED is available when a cardiac arrest incident occurs. Even when an AED is nearby when a sudden cardiac arrest incident occurs, the AED is often not used because either its presence is unknown or the device seems intimidating to bystanders who are reluctant to try to use a device that they are unfamiliar with to treat a medical situation that they are unfamiliar with.
Although existing AEDs work well, there are continuing efforts to develop AEDs that have characteristics likely to broaden the deployment and availability of automated external defibrillators.
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